One of the last things we saw in Krakow was the Pharmacy Museum in Florianska Street, in the Old Town. This very interesting museum is operated by the Jagiellonian University Medical College, and has plenty of things to discover.
We got there just after they reopened after lunch break. It consists of several rooms, as well as the basement and the attic. There's definitely plenty of chemicals and other interesting objects.
The exhibit starts from a historical perspective, showing what a historical apothecary could look like. There are plenty of bizarre and not-so-well-known objects, including rare animals. Of course, back then people believed that these rare items have special healing powers, so they definitely would be quite comfortable being placed in an apothecary.
The basement contained a lot of the distilling equipment, as well as other machinery and mechanisms to create medicine. There was also a way to make candles, as well as medical potions which had something to do with wine.
The basement essentially is where the cooking happens. Medicines have to be combined from several raw ingredients, and so the furnace is downstairs, as well as other manufacturing equipment such as grinders and such.
The other rooms featured very neatly-arranged bottles and other medical containers. This is definitely how an ancient apothecary would look like. Nowadays, we have pharmacies that are filled with cartons of pills and capsules behind a counter, but before, it's all about labeled ceramic containers. I wonder how people portioned these items when customers come in asking for them.
I think the attic was my favourite part of the museum. This is where the herbs are kept. The plants are hung from the ceiling, and the attic just has a very wonderful smell, as these were real plants and not fake ones. It was definitely a memorable room, from a smell perspective.
Overall, this was an interesting place. This museum was the last thing we have seen, and the day after, we headed to the main train station and took a train heading back to Berlin. But before wrapping up this series, I have one final post about Poland coming up.
